Image capturing devices are widely used to capture scenes, persons, events, settings, etc. Image capturing devices, such as digital still cameras, typically include a camera-back display, such as an LCD screen. The camera-back display may be used to display captured images. The camera-back display may also be used to display a continuous sequence of images in a live view mode, wherein the user can press the shutter button at any time during the live view mode in order to capture an image.
The user may monitor camera status information during any type of image capturing in order to keep track of camera operating characteristics. The status information may include a battery power level, an image resolution setting, a flash status, etc. The user may need to monitor the status information before an image capture in order to determine that the image resolution is on a desired setting, to check the battery level, to determine whether the camera is in a proper flash mode, etc. Therefore, the user may often look at the status display before or during an image capturing session.
FIG. 1 shows a status display LCD according to the prior art. The prior art approach to monitoring camera status information has typically been done through such a display on the top of the camera. The prior art status display is typically an LCD display and is included in addition to a camera-back display, which is typically also an LCD display.
The status display according to the prior art has several drawbacks. The prior art status display is located at the top of the camera. The prior art places the status display on the top of the camera regardless of how inconvenient or undesirable this may be to the user. As a result, it is not easily viewed during an image capturing operation. The placement of the prior art status display is inconvenient because the user is looking through the view finder or at the camera-back display when the camera is in use, and not at the top of the camera. In addition, the prior art status display is not easily viewed during an image review mode, where the user is looking at the camera-back display. Moreover, there is no user control over the inclusion or placement of the prior art status display. Furthermore, the prior art status display requires duplicate LCD display devices and therefore is more costly to manufacture.
Therefore, there remains a need for improvements in image capturing devices.